Making the Connection

For our honeymoon, back in the day, as young-uns, Pam and I went to sunny San Antonio for a memorable, but less than amazing trip. For years, we have vowed to remedy that. And now, as we’re approaching our 20 year anniversary (Yes! We’ve made it this far!) we celebrated with a trip to New York City, sans the chilluns! It was the best time and with God’s help, here’s to 20 more years!

Rather than having me give you the play-by-play, you can see the highlights yourself by checking out the video. But, in a nutshell, it was delicious food, a couple of Broadway shows, Letterman, the Brooklyn Bridge, the subway, Times Square, a couple of NY churches, the World Trade Center site, the stores, the Statue of Liberty, Central Park, the MET, the Top of the Rock, and more. (Okay, that was sort of a play-by-play, but check out the video anyway).

I have been very interested in finding out what all the buzz surrounding David Platt’s best-seller “Radical” is all about. After hearing him teach some unconventional ideas at the Catalyst Conference in Dallas this year, I approached his newest offering “Radical Together” with some skepticism.

However, I found many concepts to applaud in the book. After all, it’s not enough to just get personally radical for Christ, we are called to follow Christ with others in the context of the local church. Each chapter is built around an apparent non sequitur or shocking statement in order to illicit a response from the reader. Noting the abundance of churches and resources in the US, he challenges us to give sacrificially to foreign missions. He calls us to think globally beyond our own borders. He asks how often do we settle for the good, instead of choosing God’s best? Platt skillfully describes the tightrope walk of faith and works and adds to our understanding of the meaning of grace. He emphasizes the centrality of prayer and the importance of adoption. He reminds us of the truth that God does not need us to further His kingdom, but He lovingly chooses to use us for His glory.

When Platt sets up a straw man through the stereotypical modern church, he veers off course. It seems Platt inherited all the trappings that go along with pastoring a wealthy mega-church. And it’s within this setting that he feels confident in criticizing the excess that has become a part of those churches. He imagines scores of pastors who’ve decided they would rather not use the Bible as the basis for their teaching. It’s just that those pastors aren’t in the churches I know of.

The extent of the vision that he says today’s leaders are calling us to is to dream about bigger buildings or how many people will attend in the future. Again, I can’t imagine the context that just dreaming of great music and a killer light show would go over in.

He really misses the mark when he tells of a talk with a mega-church pastor friend who is apparently sharp enough to pastor such a church, but is too ignorant to imagine doing things in the more traditional way that Platt espouses. Instead of trying to equip the people of the church for ministry, this pastor thinks the staff should do all the ministry. However, I’ve never heard one serious leader teach or demonstrate that ministry is to be done only by the “pros.” So, in the end, I am in complete agreement with Platt that building a healthy church depends on equipping the people for service. It’s just that it’s not as controversial of an idea as he seems to believe.

Overall, the book is a much-needed call to take big risks to do whatever we can to reach our world for Christ together, but it is marred by his need to set himself against other churches and pastors who he doesn’t think measure up to his radical call. In the interest of full disclosure, WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group sent me this book for free for this review.

It wasn’t long ago that I took a stroll down memory lane with my daughters. We pulled out my old yearbooks and read the autographs to see what my friends had to say about me. A sampling of them would read: “You’re a weird kid” and “To someone who is different.” We got a big laugh out of it, but it reminded me how much I wanted to fit in back in my school days. I never set out to be weird back then.

But when I started following Jesus, I realized that being a Christ-follower meant marching to the beat of a different drummer. I discovered that I didn’t mind being different if I was different for the Truth!

And then God led me to the Weird capital of the world, Austin, Texas, where we pride ourselves on “Keeping it Weird.” Austin got this reputation in the late 70s because of its diversity and the way you could express yourself any way you wanted to and still be accepted. That weirdness is what people love about Austin.

The fact is: being normal today means being stressed out, broke, and lonely. God has called us out of the normal kind of life to a life of peace, freedom, purpose, and connection. It’s a life that’s just plain Weird! This weekend, we’re kicking off our new series: “Weird: Because Normal Isn’t Working.”You know what would be really weird? Bring a friend with you and find out!

Billboards all across the country are heralding that this Saturday, May 21^st, is Judgment Day. Before you decide to spend the day on your roof to get closer to the sky, I need to let you know that the rapture isn’t happening this weekend.

The fact is, no matter what these people say, the Bible certainly does not “guarantee” anything about May 21^st, 2011. This same organization has predicted previous dates with the same unimpressive results. And according to the Bible, the test of a real prophet is that they have to be 100% right 100% of the time (Deuteronomy 18:21-22).

Secondly, Jesus was very clear when He was asked when He would return that, “No one knows the day or hour, not even the Son of God Himself.” (Matthew 24:36) It’s funny how many of these so-called prophets can explain away such a clear teaching from Jesus.

The fact remains that Jesus will return one day, when He chooses. You can read about it in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18. But it’s not meant to cause Christ-followers to be afraid. Instead, Paul says we should encourage each other with the reminder that this life isn’t all there is. Jesus is coming back and has a place prepared for us where we will be with Him forever (and that’s a mighty long time).

It blows my mind to consider how much money was spent on this ridiculous ad campaign that in the end will do more damage than good. But it also fires me up to reach out to people who need to hear the truth now more than ever! Many people wonder why it’s taken Jesus so very long to return. He isn’t slow, He is patiently waiting so that every single person who will respond to Him will do so. “The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) In the meantime, He wants us to spread the word and bring as many people with us as possible!

I first heard Scott Harrison, founder of charity:water tell his story at Catalyst Atlanta in October. He spoke passionately about the fact that 1 in every 6 people in our world don’t have access to clean water.

Water is essential for life, and the key to health, business, and education. Millions of people get deadly diseases from contaminated water that you and I wouldn’t even want to walk through, much less drink. 45,000 people will die this week from the lack of access to clean, safe water. Those who survive have to walk for hours everyday to get nasty water to give to their families. This is unimaginable and inexcusable when we can do something about it.

So my birthday wish this year is to provide safe clean drinking water for people in need. I’m so thankful that I don’t need anything this year. Not another iTunes card or another electronic gadget. This year is all about saving lives.

This is my 41st birthday and my wish list is simple: I’m asking that you give $41 or more to provide the gift of water. It’s not for me, 100% will go directly to freshwater projects for people in developing nations. Will you partner with me to make a difference? Go to this site to find out how you can get involved: http://mycharitywater.org/colephillips